Games where a mini-boss is just as hard as, if not harder than the real boss

[Nirvana]

Playing BlazBlue and losing to Hakuman more than v-13 got me thinking about games where the mini-boss gives me a harder time than the actual boss.

- Blazblue, as I mentioned
- Mortal Kombat II (I usually have a much harder time with Kintaro than Shao Kahn.
- Although the bosses aren't mandatory, Emerald/Ruby Weapon in FFVII and Omega Weapon in FFVIII were difficult, but then again, you didn't HAVE to beat them to beat the game.

I wanna say there's a Mega Man game like this too...

Got any examples?

[LucidDefender]

In Diablo 2, some of the lightning enchanted mini-bosses in Hell could be harder than a few of the bosses.

[BHvrd]

How about taking it a step further and saying every minion and miniboss? That is every single enemy in Ghouls 'N Ghosts was harder than the last boss.

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/ghoulsgenesis.gif

All that you went through and beating this guy was cake! Though he did "look" cool. :p

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

The Double Dragon Twins in River City Ransom are a hell of a lot harder than Slick when you're playing alone by virtue of the fact that there's two of them.

[Cobra Commander]

How about taking it a step further and saying every minion and miniboss? That is every single enemy in Ghouls 'N Ghosts was harder than the last boss.

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/ghoulsgenesis.gif

All that you went through and beating this guy was cake! Though he did "look" cool. :p
Seconded! Come on, he's just sitting there!
Also, I always thought Ridely was much harder than Mother Brain.

[Atari 5200]

To me, any miniboss from the mega man and mega man x series.

[PentiumMMX]

I honestly though that in Sonic & Knuckles, the Act 1 boss from Death Egg Zone (That laser eye thing) was harder than the Act 2 boss (The final showdown with Dr. Robotnic)

[Haoie]

Well there's no rule that a miniboss is easier than a boss, is there?

Even the distinction between them isn't clear.

[aclbandit]

Seconded! Come on, he's just sitting there!
Also, I always thought Ridely was much harder than Mother Brain.

Really? I didn't have any trouble with Ridley in the first Metroid, but the Mother Brain was hard. Not it, specifically, but rather the fact that there's a LOAD of ouchies floating about near her while you try to fire those missiles.

[Push Upstairs]

Just about all the bosses in "Streets of Rage 3" are harder than the final boss.

Seriously, you can stand at the top of the screen and jump-kick him to death!

[The 1 2 P]

-In Castlevania: SOTN(PS1 and Saturn), fighting Galamoth(the huge boss near the end) was alot tougher than fighting Dracula. He wasn't impossible to beat, especially if you have the right weapon equipped, but he'll give you a much tougher fight than your final encounter with Drac.

-In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist(Genesis), fighting Krang was tougher than your final battle with Shredder.

-In Syphon Filter(PS1), the helicopter boss battle was way harder than the last boss(Rhomer). The last boss was a cake walk that didn't even require an actual gun to kill him. But the helicopter boss? That battle was insane.

[Sonicwolf]

If Zelda temple bosses could be considered... Phantom Ganon is harder than the final Ganon as his reflected shots get consecutively faster on each return.

[kupomogli]

On Final Fantasy, Warmech(a random battle) is harder than any boss in the game except Chaos who has more HP but is less damaging.

Luca Blight is harder than any boss in Suikoden 2. While not a mini boss, he's the boss at around the middle of the game(I've never once died against him though. But then again, you do have three parties to fight him.)

The one mini boss that you have to use Thunder on in the last temple of Zelda 2 is harder than Dark Link/Shadow Link.

Sagat is better than Seth in Street Fighter 4.

Maxim is harder than Dracula in Harmony of Dissonance, Galamoth(as was already stated,) is harder than any of the other bosses in Symphony of the Night, most bosses are harder than Dracula from the original CV, Rondo of Blood, DXC, and Castlevania 3. And then the Werewolf on Castlevania Chronicles(boss of stage 5) is harder than any boss in the game by far.

That should help.

[Ed Oscuro]

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/ghoulsgenesis.gif

All that you went through and beating this guy was cake! Though he did "look" cool. :p
Good thing for Arthur's strategic placement there. :above me:

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Castlevania 1 which is the classic example of this - especially since other CVs have been mentioned (that I see, SotN and the GBA junk).

Votes here for Castlevania (Death, oh god; I think that's where I got to when I played; yep still need to beat that one), for Monster Party, and for every game made on a 3D system. ;)

I also had a heck of a time with Salabog in Secret of Evermore. Final boss was astoundingly tough though (I finally got smart and superleveled up to 70 or something, from 41 - didn't take long the way I did it, though I shouldn't do that again); I still don't understand how the main player character's attacks are so much weaker than the dog's (dog on level 3 = anything he can hit is toast in two minutes or your pizza is free).

[grolt]

Cloud Master. Granted, nothing in that game is even close to easy, but the mini-bosses are often tougher, because not only do you have to dodge their crap, but there are other enemies on screen firing simultaneously, too. Chaos!

[FantasiaWHT]

Phantasy Star II - Dark Force is WAY harder to take out than Mother Brain.

[Mayhem]

Omega Pirate in Metroid Prime, boy was that guy hard...

[Mathius]

Omega Pirate in Metroid Prime, boy was that guy hard...

I second that. That fight was hard enough without the Space Pirates coming out of the woodwork every 30 seconds to annoy and destroy.:grrr:

[Kuros]

Good thing for Arthur's strategic placement there. :above me:

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Castlevania 1 which is the classic example of this - especially since other CVs have been mentioned (that I see, SotN and the GBA junk).

Votes here for Castlevania (Death, oh god; I think that's where I got to when I played; yep still need to beat that one), for Monster Party, and for every game made on a 3D system. ;)

I also had a heck of a time with Salabog in Secret of Evermore. Final boss was astoundingly tough though (I finally got smart and superleveled up to 70 or something, from 41 - didn't take long the way I did it, though I shouldn't do that again); I still don't understand how the main player character's attacks are so much weaker than the dog's (dog on level 3 = anything he can hit is toast in two minutes or your pizza is free).

Salabog is much easier with a level 2 or 3 spear. As for the final boss, a powered up Barrier makes the boss way easier as you are invulnerable. Combine that with Energize and you are set.

[sebastiankirchoff]

In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the last boss Dracula was a piece of cake compared to Galamoth, who was a bitch to beat. I swear it took about 20 minutes to kill him, while Dracula only took 5 and was was easier.

[Ed Oscuro]

Salabog is much easier with a level 2 or 3 spear. As for the final boss, a powered up Barrier makes the boss way easier as you are invulnerable. Combine that with Energize and you are set.
Yeah, it took me a while to figure out I needed to actually charge my spear up when fighting Salabog. Went down easily enough after that.

Casting Energize on myself at the last boss was a terrible idea, because then I couldn't fire my bazooka (it sat at 0%). In the US version, Cryo Blast and the middle damage type of bazooka ammo are unlimited (hilarious bug) and it does the most damage of all my weapons (or at least it does the most damage consistently - ~600+ to 800 and you only need to wait to level one). Using Energize only on the dog was the best thing ever, however.

The charge system in that game is a real pain in the butt - you can have maneuverability, or you can have a powerful attack, but not both. Gets to be a pain with all those rimsalas bounding about the place (and Alchemy did sod all against them).

Robot dog forever.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Yellow Devil, MM1.

[Swamperon]

A few I can think of:

Shining Force: Collossus battle is harder than Dark Dragon

Azure Dreams: Many of the monsters are harder than the final boss (mainly because it's impossible to lose) and Kraken's are dangerous regardless of level, mainly in groups however.

Zelda Oot: Water temple's Dark Link battle is considerably harder than the temple's boss (where you can just stand in the corner and hookshot it to death)

[Baloo]

Double Post.

[Baloo]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist - Tatsu

That guy is a pain in the ass. Let me just shoot at you while my foot soldiers come at you and grab you from behind. And if you do manage to get near me and hit me a couple of times, I'll fly across the room and you'll do it all over again.

AND I come back in the next level!

[Mathius]

In Shadow of the Colossus there's one boss...oh, wait...nevermind:p

[RASK1904]

The Indian boss(i think?) in Sunset Riders for the Snes is the hardest. He jumps over you and throws knives. Everyone else is easy. and fun!

[Ruudos]

Wizards & Warriors

Skeleton boss is harder than Malkil (end boss)

Secret of Mana

Spikey at the beginning of the game is harder than a lot of the other bosses, because of the weakness of your own party at that time.

[kupomogli]

Secret of Mana

Spikey at the beginning of the game is harder than a lot of the other bosses, because of the weakness of your own party at that time.

I think the first boss, the mantis is probably the hardest aside from the fact that you get revived by Jema. He has long range attacks that'll end up stunning you and removing your charge. You could level up, but without grinding Rabites I'd say he's the hardest.

[sniperCCJVQ]

Death in Castlevania (NES)...those damn sickles are worse then Dracula itself

[Mr Mort]

Ninja Gaiden/Black: Alma's first form. It took me damn near 3 days to beat her. I was close to giving up on the game entirely. Finally, I did beat her, and every other boss in the game, including her subsequent forms are a cakewalk in comparison. That is a brutal boss fight to put near the beginning of the game.